Hey! I'm worried about my Russian Tortoise Mufasa. I just got him 2 days ago and when I got him he was eating away and walking around. And when I brought him home he keep digging and digging he also wasnt eating... This morning I went to go check on him and took him out of his log and all his limbs were stiff and i touched them and the wouldnt retract back in same with his head but after touching his head twice he tucked it back in and so i put him down and hes not as active as he was when i brought him home. Hes indoors /in the garage. And last night the temp outside was 32 but not sure what it was like in the garage. I was told that if you distrurb them while they are hibernating that it could kill them. So do you think I should just leave him alone? I still have his lights on and a bowl of food in his enclosure... What should I do?

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this is his enclosure but the tortoises that are in there in the pic have been adopted its just mufasa now.

I would turn off the lights, if you want him to hibernate fully you have to go all the way through with it. Actually they should have gone a month without eating before full hibernation as any food in its body can start to rot since it wont digest it since body functions slow almost to a stop during hibernation. The light might be heating him a little causing him to expend energy still that he shouldnt be. Best you can do is just let him go till spring. A weight should of been taken before hibernation and a weight taken later on when you just feel a little uneasy to make sure he isnt losing alot of weight. They will lose very little during hibernation. As for disturbing during hibernation there is nothing wrong with doing that. It wont kill them as if an emergency occurs like you notice he is losing weight it is easy for them to wake out of it just by bringing him inside.

ok thank you for your help. My two tortoises are much more active now. I was using walnut litter as their subtrate but found out that it was making the humitity level too low and its not digestible so i got loose coconut fiber